Reinforcement means “rewards”. What is positive reinforcement? Anything the dog enjoys and is willing to work for. It must be reinforcing in the dog’s eyes. Immediate rewards produce faster learning, better retention and faster performance.

When the reward is “delayed or late” in several seconds, in some situations, no learning will occur at all.

The timing of immediate rewards has faster results. When you offer reinforcement earlier it can have dramatic improvements in training.

Remember Immediate rewards gives:

1. faster learning

2. fewer repetitions

3. learning is retained longer

4. rewards given sooner, the dog performs faster

Dogs link reinforcement with the very last thing they did, therefore you need to mark the correct behaviour exactly when it happens.